Agent of The Past
by GirlWonder29
Summary: She did NOT plan on spending her 14th birthday like this, stuck in an alternate timestream. And in the past, no less. When a strange girl claiming herself to be a hero named Portal shows up in the Cave, the Team doesn't know what to make of it. Especially when she reacts in a way to them that suggests she knows much, much more than she says on their Team...
1. Chapter 1: Meeting Portal

UNKNOWN

AUGUST 28, 2020

"Are you ready?" the tall dark haired woman asked from her place in the shadows in a grating, vicious tone.

She turned towards the light.

The girl strapped to a table struggled, fear in her eyes, hair disheveled, her clothes torn.

"What-what are you going to do with me?" she demanded.

"Oh, nothing that won't aid our cause, dear girl."

"You witch! You just wait until I get free. You'll be sorry then!"

"Brave words, little one." the woman chuckled.

"But enough. It is your time to be sent now."

"Sent?" the girl echoed.

"Oh, but of course!" the woman replied. "Our organisation is vast and hidden well. With this power, we could easily be able to control them from the…...inside."

She turned and nodded at the man in the white lab coat. The girl's eyes widened and she began to struggle even harder than before when she saw the long syringe in his hands.

"Lie still, it will all be over soon," the woman soothed mockingly.

The needle pierced through the girl's arm, and there was a sudden burst of glowing, blinding red light...

HAPPY HARBOR

June 22, 2010

4:26 P.M. EDT

"ROBIN!" Superboy yelled, running down one of the Cave's hallways, fists raised, and angry look on his face.

"What's up, Supey?" Robin yelled back, sprinting for his life right ahead of the crazed Kryptonian.

"You know WHAT!" Connor shouted furiously, still running after the elusive Boy Wonder.

"YOU PUT BANANAS IN MY SHAMPOO!"

Robin turned and grinned, his eyes hidden by his dark sunglasses.

"UHHH, maybe? Why are you so ticked?!"

"Monkeys like bananas!"

"So? Monkeys are whelmed!"

"YOU KNOW THAT I...HATE...MONKEYS!"

"OOPS!" Robin bellowed back, before finally turning right around the corner and finding...a dead end.

"Come ON," he complained, panting. "It's a CAVE in a real MOUNTAIN. There should be more tunnels!"

"ROBIN!"

Connor's voice was getting closer. Soon he would catch up with him. No way back down the hall he had just run from.

Oh, and he would _really _be in trouble when Superboy noticed that Robin had swiped his potato chips from his pocket when he was in the shower.

Oh, yeah. That was fun. But now he had other pressing matters to deal with.

What he would give to be able to have camouflage like Miss Martian, or super speed like Kid Flash at the moment.

Worse, he had left his utility belt in the kitchen.

He was almost powerless, if not for his training. But Connor was a pretty tough opponent, and Robin did not like his chances.

So...he was doomed for the moment.

"Uh-oh." he muttered. So NOT whelmed. Unlike those monkeys. Which Connor hated.

"Focus and think, Grayson!" he scolded himself. "I have to survive to fight another day! If I don't...Wally will eat ALL the mini pizzas! Which cannot be allowed! Come on, THINK..."

All of a sudden, as if by miracle, a disembodied voice said "Jump through the seemingly psychotic swirling red cesspool of probable death."

Robin started at the sound, looking around for the person who belonged with the voice. Finding none, he shook his head. "And now, I'm going insane." "No, you're not. Again. Swirling red cesspool. When it appears, jump through." The still disembodied voice replied. "Yeah, no. Cesspool of death? Not really my thing."

"I was kidding. Seriously, do you want to get clobbered by a Kryptonian at only a measly total of thirteen years of age?"

"Why am I even talking to an imaginary voice?" Robin pondered aloud.

"I'm not an imaginary voice! I'm on the other side of this cesspool, if you really want to know."

"And why should I trust you?"

Robin still thought that he was going mental, but he decided to keep that to himself. "For all I know, it'd be like jumping into an amateur villain trap. Just like that, bye, bye, Boy Wonder."

"Gee, Superboy sure sounds like he's getting close," the voice noted helpfully.

"ROBIN!" Superboy yelled from somewhere in the distance.

"Look, whether or not you're willing, here goes," the voice continued, before pausing.

And just like that, said swirling red cesspool of death appeared before him.

"Really? How UN-whelmed would I have to be to actually jump through that red hole?"

The voice came back, a little exasperated this time around.

"OK, since this is obviously not going to work, you leave me no choice."

"Really? What are _you _going to do about_-_"

As fast as thought, a black fingerless gloved hand shot out from the cesspool and dragged the teenage boy through the hole.

_FLASH._

The hole, the mysterious voice, and the Boy Wonder were all gone by the time Connor charged around the corner.

"You're going to be so sorry you ever-!"

But he stopped, as there was no one there, of course.

"Shrimp," he muttered to himself. It seemed that Robin had made his escape.

"Hey, you got lucky this time, but next time don't be so sure!" Connor yelled, just in case Robin was listening. There was no reply.

Connor sighed and shook his head.

He started rummaging around in his pockets before a look of confusion crossed his face. He straightened up immediately, scowling fiercely.

"HEY! Where'd my potato chips go?!"


	2. Chapter 2: Finding Names

HAPPY HARBOR

4:32 P.M. EDT

"Babe, these are just _so_ delish,"

Wally West, A.K.A. Kid Flash, did his best to give Miss Martian a charming smile while gulping down about four blackened cookies at the same time.

It was no easy task, but Wally was sure he was doing a pretty smooth job of it.

M'gann smiled gratefully, still being somewhat oblivious to the fact that Wally was still hitting on her. Big time.

"Thanks! It's really hard sometimes to get the recipe right...sometimes the timer gets set wrong, or I forget to add the sugar...but I guess it still works, right?"

Wally nodded enthusiastically, although he could feel the cookies lodging in his throat as his head bobbed up and down.

"_Glllph_!" he spluttered, as he immediately started choking. "Oh!" M'gann gasped, as she noticed his open distress.

Her eyes began to glow green as she activated her telekinetic Martian powers.

At once, the cookies dislodged themselves from his throat and flew out into the air, an ugly ash-colored mess.

_Oh, God… _Wally thought panickedly in total embarrassment. So _uncool…_

Miss Martian directed the cookie pieces into the garbage can.

Wally ducked his head when she turned back towards him, shaking her head slightly.

"Oh, Wally," she sighed.

At that moment, a wild Superboy burst into the kitchen.

"Connor!" M'gann exclaimed. "What's the matter?"

"It's Robin," Superboy narrowed his eyes. "He's missing!"

—

"Where is this?" Robin demanded, head spinning from the ride. He was about 75% sure that he had just been pulled through a literal roller-coaster.

And now he was in the middle of what he was pretty sure was a majorly un-whelmed space-void. Seriously.

It was pitch black and sprinkled over with tiny pinpricks of light as far as he could see.

"Sorry 'bout that." said a voice, the exact same one from before.

He spun around and found himself staring down a slender girl of about 14 years old, with long unruly black hair down to her waist, dressed in a sleeveless top with long arm warmers, mini-shorts with a black utility belt, and straps circling her long legs, where he could see a couple guns held in place near her thighs: one resembled a G19, the other was similar to a Beretta 92F.

She crossed her arms and grinned at him. "So...enjoying the view?"

Robin jerked his head up immediately, and cursed himself for acting like Wally.

"Uh, no. Uh, no! That's not what I meant! I mean-"

Dick caught himself, and forced a casual look back on his face.

"Pretty whelmed space-zone you got here."

"I guess." the girl sighed. "If you were as old as I am."

"What...how old are you? 14?"

"23."

Robin immediately took an unconscious step back.

Upon seeing the shock on his face, the girl raised an eyebrow, and laughed out loud.

"Nah, I'm just messing with ya. You're right, I'm just about 14."

"Oh." he said. "That's cool, I guess."

"Yeah."

There was an awkward pause before she said enthusiastically, "Alright! Now that _that's _over with, let's get you back to your Cave."

"Wait. Who are you?" he demanded. "Are you a villain? Or an ally?"

"Relax, I don't mean to hurt anybody. I won't endanger any one of your teammates. And if I do...I give you permission to take me out."

"That's a pretty dark promise," he remarked. "But I suppose it's good enough for now. So, who are you _exactly_?"

"...I'm Portal. And you're Richard "Dick" Grayson, also known as Robin."

What? How on Earth did this girl know who he was?

Robin immediately started to feign innocence, his training kicking in. Of course, he had never really had to deal with something so outright and straight to the truth before.

"...Dick Grayson?! Yeah, right. That guy's got nothing on me. Isn't he some rich kid?"

"Yeah, I s'ppose he is. Real short one, too. That little oily hair boy, right?"

"I'm _not_-I mean, he's _not_ oily!" he blurted out, then cursed himself times a million for being so obvious.

She grinned at him. "Nice going, Grayson."

"Whatever. So what's your name then?"

"Portal."

"Right." Robin raised his eyebrows. "Because on your birth certificate it legally states your name is Portal."

"I wouldn't know. I've never seen it. I don't have a name, as far as I'm concerned."

He was slightly taken aback at that. A girl, barely older than he was, who didn't even know her own name…

"How about we give you a name then?" he suggested out loud. "Who's '_we_'?" The girl raised her eyebrow in reply.

He ignored that. "How about...Meg?" "Nope. Had to deck her in the nose for calling me a crappy soccer keeper."

She looked at the confused look on his face and added, "It was an undercover mission. The team's fate depended on it."

"...Dana?"

"No. That was the girl I kicked in the knee for ganging up with Meg. Again, the team's fate _depended_ on it."

"...Jasmine? That's not too bad, is it?"

"_Suuuuuure_, she not only stabbed me in the back, I had to shoot her in the foot for messing me up during an important training assignment."

The girl paused, and winced. "That knife was pretty freakin' sharp."

"Uh, Madison?"

"...Too common. I know way too many of them."

"Sophia?"

"_Tch_, don't even get me started on _her_. The only thing comparable to her is the sound pelicans make while flying away when it's hunting season."

"It's not like you're really picky or anything," Dick said, starting to get frustrated.

"How about...Kori?"

"'Kori'? Where'd you pick _that_ name up from?"

"I thought it sounded neat."

She laughed at that. "Hold on to that thought, Grayson. You're gonna need it when the time comes."

"Then how about...Leanne?"

"'Leanne…'" she repeated. "That's actually not bad. A little fancy for my taste, however."

"Then why don't we do this?" he said. "I call you 'Lee' for short?"

She paused, and he was sure for a moment that a refusal was coming, but she merely grinned and said "Not bad, Dick. Not bad at all."

"Is that a 'yes'? I'll assume that that reply is a 'yes'."

"That's a 'yes'." she confirmed.

"Knew it."

"We should get going now." Portal threw out her hands in front of her. "_Now_..._**return to the void**_ _**whence we came**__!"_

This time, Dick didn't hesitate much at all to grab onto her waiting hand and allowed himself to jump into the mysterious red whirlpool back to the Cave.

He had a feeling there were going to be a lot of questions when he got back, and his Team was gonna need all the answers they could get.


	3. Author's Note

This is an Author's Note, NOT a chapter. Please don't hate me for it, I just want to clear something up that's been bugging me for a couple days.

**Guest: Everyone is incredibly OOC and this is just... wow. And not a good wow.**

This was a review I received that I disliked, not only because it was an anonymous user, but because it was an anonymous user who decided to give my story an unfavorable opinion.

I am only too aware that people are allowed to think and post whatever they want or think is OK (and anyone who reads this will likely think that I am just a big fat baby about this review)...well, tough.

This is my view on the Young Justice universe and how I picture the characters. If someone ('Guest') has a problem with it, go cry me a river and write your own story.

Then when you do, message me. I'll only be too happy to read it and give my honest opinion. And it won't be biased, if I see something I like, I'll admit it. If I don't, well, I'll just keep it to myself.

And anymore unfavorable comments and I'll just stop writing the story, which would be an awful shame to the people who want to see what the future holds for this fanfic.

Thank you, and sorry for taking up your time.

-GirlWonder29


	4. Chapter 3: Team Introductions

HAPPY HARBOR

4:32 P.M. EDT

"Robin's missing?" Miss Martian repeated, her eyes going wide.

"I wouldn't worry too much about it," Wally tried to reassure and impress her by sounding all mature. "He's playing a prank or something, you know how hyperactive he is."

_Like _you're _one to talk_, Superboy thought silently.

"Anyway, how do you know for sure that he's gone missing?" Wally addressed him. "I mean, did you check the whole Cave or something?"

"Actually, I did." Connor muttered.

Wally's jaw nearly dropped. "Seriously?! You were only just chasing after Robin like, 6, 7 minutes ago! You're kidding, aren't you? There's no way you could have searched the Cave in that time!"

"I'm fast," Connor ducked his head and stared moodily at the ground.

"Let's go outside and search for him!" M'gann decided determinedly, hovering in the air.

At that moment, Robin fell into a tray of badly burned confections and a half-empty bag of flour.

BANG. POOF. CLANG. THUD.

By the end of it all, he was on his two feet on the floor (fortunately due to his quick reflexes) with one foot in a pile of blackened cookie crumbs, covered in flour all down his right side, face and hair, and his head still spinning a bit from the wormhole's roller-coaster effect.

When the flour dust had finally cleared, M'gann, Superboy and Wally all stopped shielding themselves from the danger and squinted at a ghostly white apparition.

"Rob…" said Wally slowly. "You're a ghost?"

"Very funny, KF," said the aforenamed spirit.

"He _died_!" Wally flipped out. "Rob's soul must have come back to bid us a final farewell!"

Robin socked him in the arm.

"Ow! Hey, you're solid!"

"Duh, genius. Quit messing around, would you?"

"Nice landing, Rob!" A voice piped up from above their heads. They all instinctively looked up.

"Why is our ceiling talking to us?" Wally wondered aloud.

"I'm not the ceiling!" A second later, a girl dropped out from the hidden cesspool, landing neatly in front of them.

She looked no older than Robin, even with all the guns strapped to her legs and a mask concealing her eyes and part of her cheeks.

The three teenagers tensed, ready to attack this strange intruder.

"Hang on!" Robin held up his hands, blocking them. "She's OK, trust me."

"Robin, do you know this chick or something?" Wally asked.

Robin shrugged, which Wally took to mean that he didn't have much clue as to what was really going on either.

"_Who are you_?" Connor demanded, hostile. Apparently abandoned Kryptonians had certain trust issues.

"Connor-" M'gann began, still wary, but all the same a little distressed at his rudeness.

"Wait." she said calmly. "I'm called Portal. I can teleport-_sort of_. I don't mean any of you any harm. I just happened to bump into a certain teenager here-" she gestured at Robin.

"-who happened to be in a good deal of distress, I saved him, we had a nice talk, and well...you know. Here we are."

"How did you get in here?" M'gann asked next. "The Cave is supposed to have special security measures-"

"Yeah, well," Now the stranger looked slightly uncomfortable. "I...accidentally broke in?"

"You _what_?"

"Hey, I'm really sorry to put you through all this trouble," she said sheepishly. "But I needed to find someone." Her tone turned serious.

"And who would that be?" This time it was Robin, looking at her in mild curiosity.

"...Batman."

"_Batman_?"

"Yes." She frowned for the first time. "It's urgent."

"So what?" Wally said, rather scornfully. "You thought you would just waltz in here and schedule an appointment with him through us?"

This seemed to hit a nerve.

The girl clenched her right fist and said slowly, and dangerously. "I. Need. To. Speak. With. Him. _Now_."

"He's not here," said M'gann.

"That's great and all, but how do we know we can trust her?" Connor pointed out. "We barely even know who she is!"

"Alright, fine." the girl sighed loudly, obviously getting impatient. "I'll let you scan me. Just make it quick." she turned to M'gann. "You have psychic powers, correct?"

"How did you know that?" M'gann was surprised.

For the tiniest moment, the girl looked taken aback, as though she had messed up somehow. Then her composure quickly returned, and she shrugged it off casually.

"...I just assumed, I've seen Martian Manhunter on the news, and he looks a little like you. Martian, right?"

"Yes." After a moment's hesitation, M'gann agreed. "OK, I'll do it, but don't worry, I'll only take a quick look."

"Be careful," warned Connor, still looking quite dangerous.

"I will." she promised. "It's just a peek."

And her eyes glowed pale green.

A bunch of jumbled images. That was what M'gann saw. Whoever-or _whatever _this girl was, she sure did have a complicated mind. And a very private one at that.

Even with her powers, M'gann could only just manage to get a lock on the clearest of the images, which unfolded to her like a picture book or a recording.

There was a dark room, and she saw the girl standing with her back facing her. Then there was a voice, deep and masculine, and strong.

"_...You will go to the Cave, and you will try not to cause any trouble. Just introduce yourself, then talk to Batman, and only him about the reason for your arrival. You are not to attack anyone, you understand? Because from that point on, the world will need them more than ever. Now go."_

And with that, Portal turned to look back, her lips turned up slightly in an inexplicably sad smile.

Then she took off running into the darkness.


	5. Chapter 4: Mental Lock

With a start, M'gann opened her eyes, welcoming back to the sight of the kitchen and the others standing around her.

"Well?" Superboy crossed his arms. "Can we trust her or not?"

"...Yes." M'gann nodded. "She's telling the truth, she doesn't mean any harm."

"Well! Now that we've gotten that vote of confidence out of the way, there is a matter of great, unavoidable importance-" the girl flung her arms out. "_Where is the food?_ I'm starving!"

None of them seemed to really understand how exactly to deal with this problem.

M'gann started fussing about how her cookies would have been perfect for this problem only they had been destroyed, which caused Wally to complain that he thought that she had been making the cookies especially for him, causing Robin to comment "Egotistical, much?", causing Wally to retort that at least he hadn't been the one to drop in with a random new girlfriend, causing Robin to vehemently deny that statement, Portal saying something like "Well, this is awkward.", causing Superboy to say "Whatever." and walk out, and Aqualad to walk in on his friends like this, very much inquisitive as to what exactly was going on.

"What is going on?" asked Aqualad.

"Nothing much, only Rob here decided to come on by with his girlfriend, and a complete stranger at that."

"_Seriously,_ Wally? And Kaldur, it's _not_ true. She and I just met...well, not that long ago. She says she's here to speak with Batman."

"Yeah, 'she' in fact _is_." Portal leaned against the counter. "Long story short-I'm Portal, your Martian friend here scanned me and she said I'm cool, which is great, then I wanted snacks but they didn't have any, and now I'm just waiting until I can speak with the Dark Knight."

Kaldur, perhaps not fully understanding all of what the girl just said, looked over at M'gann for confirmation about the apparent "scanning".

Receiving a simple nod in return, he turned back to the girl and said calmly "I am not sure where Batman is at the moment. Perhaps-"

"_Team. Report to the Mission Room at once. Batman out._"

"Speak of the Devil." Portal grinned, sprinting around Superboy and moving out of the kitchen before the others could say anything. "Try to catch up!" she called back over her shoulder gleefully.

The rest of the Team in the kitchen merely looked at each other. Then they turned to look at Robin.

"Hey, don't look at me." Robin held up his hands mock-defensively. "It's not like I asked to get pulled into an apocalyptic cesspool or anything."

"_Suuuure_." said Kid Flash doubtfully, almost looking disappointed that it hadn't been him getting to meet the new girl first instead.

Dick was rather inexplicably tempted all of a sudden to jab him in the head.

"_Ow_! Dude, lighten up!"

At that precise moment, Portal stuck her head back into the kitchen.

"Uh, I hate to be a bother-" she scratched her head sheepishly. "-But where's the the Mission Room exactly?"

As she ran, there were a number of thoughts that crossed her mind.

One of the most urgent of them was _how_ she was going to get that audience with the Bat himself and then manage to appropriately explain to him who the _heck_ she even _was_.

Oh, man. That was going to be freakin' tough.

Like even more tough than blocking out classified memories from Miss Martian, such as her own _real_ _name _for example, the one she had abandoned the moment she had signed on for this unstable wreck of a mission.

So apparently now she was going by "Lee", as according to one Boy Wonder.

Great.

Although, she supposed there could have been worse ways to go. She could have been re-dubbed as _Anastastia_ or something. God, she was _still_ trying to get _that_ creep clear out of her head.

But enough! There were far more things to stress about at that moment in time.

Such as how she was going to explain who she really was in front of Batman.

Option A: "_Hi, Batman! I'm a mysterious girl from a very mysterious place that I can't talk about in front of any of these teenagers here. You mind if we go somewhere private?"_

Not bad, but there were MUCH better ways of saying that.

Option B: "_Hey! No, uh. Hello, Batman. Sir. I'm Portal, I need to talk to you. In private. 'Cause if we don't the world will end as we know it. Stuff like that."_

OK, apparently things sounded nearly as bad in her head as they did out loud.

Option C: "_Portal here. I'm like a secret agent from _Mission Impossible_. C̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶m̶e̶ ̶A̶g̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶H̶u̶n̶t̶.̶. We need to talk. Alone. Solitary. Independent. Without these people here. Understand? Great! W̶a̶i̶t̶,̶ ̶s̶h̶a̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶h̶e̶a̶d̶ ̶d̶o̶e̶s̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶m̶e̶a̶n̶ ̶'̶y̶e̶s̶'̶?̶ _"

GOD. NO. PLEASE HELP. SOLITARY GIRLS DRESSED IN MASKS WHO CREATE RED WORMHOLE GATEWAYS NEED MENTAL ASSISTANCE WHEN THINKING TO THEMSELVES.

OK. So figuring out what to say in her head wasn't going to work. She'd just have to wing it.

_Just focus, Portal._ She thought determinedly to herself. _Just concentrate on not sounding like a blubbering fraud. _

_But I don't sound like a blubbering fraud, _she argued back to herself. _You insult me. _

_Yeah, you do. You just stroll in, ask for the snacks and get out._

_...No , I don't! And that was just 'cause I hadn't had anything since this morning, which was a muffin. UNDERSTAND? A tiny, unfilling muffin!_

_So it's your fault or not eating something better, isn't it?_

_NO, IT IS NOT._

_Why are you yelling?_

_I'M NOT YELLING. _

_Seriously, why are you yelling over a muffin?_

"-Portal?" Miss Martian touched her arm. "Are you alright?"

"_Muffins are amazing_!" she blurted out.

OK, next stop: Mental Asylum. WHY WAS SHE SO INSANE?

"Uh...OK." said Miss Martian confusedly, awkwardly patting her on the shoulder. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Uh, yeah, great," Portal stuttered. "Yep, fine. Thanks for asking."

Just to their side, Superboy was giving them a raised eyebrow look like "The _heck_?", and the others were probably all following suit from behind and around them.

No matter. There wasn't any more time to think anymore when the doors to the Mission Room slid open and she found herself staring straight at the one and only Crusader of Justice, the Dark Knight-

_"Batman," _she breathed. At last. Now she could finally explain herself for real.

But he did not look that pleased to see her.


	6. Chapter 5: The Interrogation

**_First off, I'd like to thank my positive reviewers and readers for their support in this story._**

**_Thank you all so much! _**

**_I apologize if I capture Batman's character horribly, but I tried. Honestly!_**

**_Ooh, we're getting a little deeper into the mystery of Portal here, with a handy flashback and interrogation. I hope you like it!_**

**_Review and fave, and that's all I can ask for! Thanks again!_**

**-GirlWonder29**

_THWACK._

"_Ow_!" she yelped, hitting the ground with a thud. It had even began to feel like a routine to her, just falling to the floor.

Looking up at her attacker, she scowled, holding her shoulder tightly.

"What was _that_ for?"

"Don't act like you don't know. Laziness." he replied sternly.

"_What_?!"

"You heard me. _Laziness_. That hit should _not_ have gone through _if_ you had been paying attention!"

"Yeah, but what I didn't understand was _how_ you could say that! I'm working my _ass_ off here!"

"You will never get better if you don't at least _TRY_!" the older man paced back and forth above her, eyes cold.

"I _am_ trying!" she protested. "But I _can't_ get any better if you just beat the crap out of me all the time!"

It was always like this. Waking up early. Getting beaten. Report to the dining room for breakfast and mental exercises. Getting beaten. Getting beaten again. Report to dining hall for lunch and mental exercises. Getting beaten at least five or six more times before reporting to the dining hall for dinner and mental exercises. Getting beaten some more.

Sleep. Repeat.

And now she was getting pretty freakin' sick of it.

"I want to win this as much as you do," she said, more calmly, looking right up at him. "But I _can't_ if I get too beaten down."

He took her words in for once, and his eyes seemed to clear up again, giving her a brief hope.

"Alright," he said finally, reaching down to help her up. "Training is done for today. But if you don't reach the deadline in time, know that I will leave you right back where I found you."

"As if I _asked_ to get dragged off the streets," she muttered under her breath.

She moved her arm and winced. Sore, probably a bruise, but it wasn't too stiff.

"If you are hurting, report to the medical bay for assistance. Training begins at 6:00 tomorrow. Don't be late." he walked towards the exit.

"Sure," she called back reluctantly.

As soon as he had left however, she immediately fell to her knees and panted. Almost everything hurt, from her head and neck all the way down to her feet.

Even her hair had changed. It was so long now that it flowed all the way down to her waist and absolutely no brush could tame it in the slightest, or keep her bangs from falling over her face and obscuring her right eye.

Trembling, she poked the part on her right leg that had been wrapped in bandages and almost cried out at the sudden pain.

She cursed, squeezing back unshed tears from behind her eyes and breathed in and out deeply.

"You better be worth it, _Grayson_," she gasped.

4:40 P.M. EDT

She felt immediately self-conscious under Batman's gaze. He stared her down without any emotion whatsoever, almost as though she was expected, except she knew better that that was hardly the case.

She fidgeted and started to wish she hadn't brought her guns with her.

"Aqualad." Batman addressed the tall youth. "Who is this?"

"She is a stranger," he began.

Great. Way to throw her under the bus, Kaldur.

"But I do not believe she poses a threat." he continued.

OK...was that supposed to be insulting? "...And she said that she had an urgent need to speak with you."

"Yeah! That's right!" she said loudly, panicked. "...Um, Batman sir." she bowed her head, expecting to be kicked out of the Cave at once.

What she hadn't been expecting was the next thing he said. "Very well. Let's go somewhere more private to talk."

"Really?!" Maybe that came out a little to shocked. She cleared her throat embarrassedly and said "Thank you, that sounds fine."

"What about our briefing?" asked Superboy.

"Your briefing can wait. This will not take too long, I trust?" This time the question was directed at her.

"Nope!" she squeaked out. "Not at all."

Curse the man's intimidating presence.

"First of all, who are you?"

They were seated in two chairs, a table. On the whole, it was fairly comfortable.

Oh, who was she kidding? It was freaking uncomfortable.

"Is this like an interrogation?"

"Yes. Now talk."

She gulped inwardly. There was no messing around with this guy. Then she breathed in and finally started to explain who she really was.

She didn't even count the minutes as they went past. For all she knew, it could have been as little as 5 minutes or as long as an hour. She did everything she had been instructed to, handing him the envelope that she had been carrying with her for so long.

Batman didn't say anything throughout the entire thing, just leaned forwards slightly and looked lost in thought, especially when he was reading the letter.

Well, at least that's what it had looked like.

By the time she had finished, she was out of breath. Seriously. And she was _so_ hoping to not to be taken for a liar and thrown back out of the Cave.

"That's it," she concluded. "That's what I came here to tell you. And know that I'm the only one who can fix things, make sure that it doesn't happen for real. Even if anyone already here tries to tamper with the event, I'm the only one who can actually make sure it changes for good. Your interference would be severely limited."

There was quiet after that.

Then she looked down and saw that Batman had clenched his fists.

_Oh no,_ she thought alarmingly, as the silence dragged on. _I'm going to get kicked out!_

Instead, Batman slowly released the tension in his hands, and said quietly. "He was that desperate for you to take on that burden?"

The question took her by surprise. "Yes," she finally answered. "He was."

Silence.

"I'm sorry."

Her head shot back up, so unexpecting of this response that her mouth gaped open.

"...Truly, even though it may not make much difference, I apologize." he bowed his head.

"It's-it's OK!" she said quickly, unnerved. "It's really, really fine-"

"It's _not_." Batman slammed a hand down, making her jump. She hadn't been expecting him to react so strongly about this. But then again, how could she have possibly known?

"Bruce?" she asked timidly.

At her words, he looked back up. "It's fine. I want to save them just as much as he did. Even if I had to take a hard path to get there. Believe me, you don't have to apologize for anything...

..._You're already forgiven_."

The last sentence was barely above a whisper.

"Alright." said Batman at last. He stood up, and she followed suit. "I believe your story. Now first things first: we will make a place for you on the Team."

"Wait, what?" she exclaimed. "I wasn't instructed to join up with any-"

"Be that as it may, your position is highly unstable, and there needs to be some assurance that others don't find out your true identity so easily. We will create a new persona that you will follow for the time being." his voice softened. "I understand that it may be difficult, but I have to ask you to continue hiding in plain sight."

"Understood." she agreed, after a moment's hesitation. "I will follow through with this."

"Thank you. Now, you wish to keep the name of "Portal"?"

"Yes. It suits me, I guess. Also, like I told you, Dick-_Robin_ sort of gave me a name as well, which I intend to use while I am here."

"Alright." Batman nodded. "I will come up with a story as to why you are joining the Team. Understand, you cannot reveal this secret to anyone besides me."

"Understood."

"For the time being, I will be acting as your guardian. And of course, there will be the matter of you having to attend school."

"Wait, _what_?"

"You heard me."

"So, what? I have to join the Team and then I have to go to freaking _school _too? This just keeps getting better and better." she groaned.

Batman raised an eyebrow, and she shut up immediately. She should be grateful, this was better than she could have hoped for.

"Understood." she said respectfully. "Thank you."

"Now I believe the Team had been waiting for their briefing for quite some time now. Naturally, you will be joining them on this mission."

"Wait, _what_?!"


	7. Agent of The Past Poll

_**Dear Readers,**_

_**I'm sorry for taking up your time once again with another note, but I need your help.**_

_**Rest assured, the next chapter of Agent of the Past is on its way as soon as I clear up this other matter first.**_

_**I was never intending for this fanfic to be an OC X Dick Grayson/Robin. **_

_**The only reason I am even considering it now is because a dear friend of mine read the story and requested it to become like that (OC X Robin).**_

_**Now, it's your time to help choose (I am addressing Followers, Reviewers, Readers in general). Post a review to this note with your vote and reason why. OC X Robin, or not?**_

_**Your replies will be taken into consideration, but the end result will really be up to me in the end. I just want to get your opinions.**_

_**Until I receive enough votes, this story will be on hiatus. Please take this seriously. **_

_**Thank you, as always,**_

**-GirlWonder29**


	8. Chapter 6: Santa Prisca

_**OK, so about the Robin X OC, I have decided to make it heavily implied at least, if not going for full-on romance. **_

_**Sorry if this is a bit vague, but I'll clear it up sooner or later. **_

_**Oh, man. You guys asked for it. This took a whole ton of work, and believe me, because: I AM NOT JOKING. **_

_**I just hope you'll be satisfied with this until the next one, which might not be for a while considering how much time this one took. **_

_**Oh, yeah, new policy: 5 reviews at least will get you readers to the next chapter. 5 DIFFERENT reviews, mind you. This doesn't mean post 5 reviews from 1 person. This means I want at least more than two people giving me 3 reviews each or something. **_

_**Whatever. For now, here is Chapter 6 from yours truly. I want to thank you all for sticking with me so far!**_

_**You guys are the best!**_

**-GirlWonder29**

Later that evening…

CARIBBEAN SEA

June 22, 20:08 ECT

So, yes. About 3, 4 hours later give or take, she was flying out with a bunch of people who barely trusted her.

And in a personal Martian Bio-Ship, no less.

Batman was not one to joke. After their little chat was done, they went back to the others, who looked impatient (Wally, Robin), curious (M'gann, Kaldur), or sort of impatient and moody at the same time (Superboy).

She barely remembered what had been said in the lecture, or the briefing itself; it had all gone by so fast.

Whatever had been said, it was good enough and now she was (?) a part of the Team (?).

Apparently.

She had never been exactly instructed to actually join up with these people. In fact, she had likely blown a gigantic hole in the big mental life-altering mission contract just by revealing herself to them at all. At least, anyone besides Batman.

But in the end, she couldn't resist. She was so curious to know what these fellow teenagers were like, and so she had not been able to resist the temptation to introduce herself to them when the time came.

So here she was.

And there was no backing out now.

There was mostly silence in the Bio-Ship, just a couple jokes exchanged by Robin and Wally, and M'gann joining in once in a while, but everyone seemed largely absorbed in the task at hand. Well, that, and their apparent first mission together.

There was also the matter of who was to be the official leader.

On the outside Miss Martian didn't particularly seem like the typical leader-type. Sure, not just because she was strikingly pretty, and extremely bubbly, but a deeper look and she figured that M'gann had secrets. Issues to worry about. She must have had a darker side to her as well. They all did, she supposed. Some just a bit darker than others.

Kid Flash was lighthearted, a carefree joker in his own right. But under that easygoing persona, she knew that there was a clever, intelligent mind.

He had come by his powers by recreating the exact same accidental experiment as his mentor, after all. That could not have been easy in the slightest. She was fairly confident the Flash didn't just leave his scientific notes lying around someplace.

Still, not the leader she had in mind.

Superboy. A clone newly brought into the world at the genetical age of 16, thanks to enhanced growth and development. Trying to figure out this strange world on his own. Figure out things for himself, even with a stubborn, self-assured aura.

Someone like him would not be in the top ranks for this Team's leader. No, he had his own obstacles to come first, much like Miss Martian, who herself was still new to Earth.

Then there was Robin. Practically a child prodigy, with his intellect and superior hacking knowledge. Plus, combat skills only Olympic-standard athletes could possibly match.

Robin wanted it. He wanted it bad. She could see it in the little smile he wore as he stared out the window, as though he was going to rock this assignment and get a chance to take over for the rest of them.

To prove his worth.

Not that she had any problem with that, it was just that she already knew who was going to get picked for leader.

The most logical choice.

She herself had no interest whatsoever in being a leader. She had much more pressing matters to deal with, and heck, she was probably terrible at working with others. Wait, scratch that. She _was_ terrible at working with others.

Yet _another _perfectly valid reason to not join this little group, a fact she had tried to casually run by Batman, only to be shot down.

"Hey, it just so happens I'm bad at working with-"

"No. This will be good experience. My decision is final."

"I didn't even finish my sentence!"

"You were likely going to say that you 'are bad at working with other people'. My decision still stands."

Thanks a ton, Batman. Thanks a ton.

"Drop-Zone A in thirty," Miss Martian announced, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Ready," stated Aqualad a few seconds later. He was dropped off not long after that.

They hovered a few feet above the island, waiting for his signal.

"_Heat and motion sensors are patched. Data is now on a continuous loop. Move in._"

Miss Martian obeyed the order, and the Bio-Ship pitched forwards until they were directly above their drop zone.

Seeing everyone else getting up from their seats, Portal hastily did the same. The chairs disappeared.

A line dropped down in front of her, and she attached it to her belt.

"How cool is this?" Kid Flash remarked to Miss Martian, activating his stealth-tech. His brightly colored suit changed into darker colors: dark gray top, black spandex.

That _is _actually pretty cool, Portal thought.

"Very impressive," Miss Martian told him. Then she topped that by shifting her own costume into a full-on black bodysuit.

Never mind, Portal thought. That's way cooler.

"Uh...that works too." Kid smiled at her before turning to Superboy. "Hey, Supey! Not too late to put on the new _stealth-tech_."

"No capes, no tights.' Superboy folded his arms. "No offense."

Whatever, Portal thought. At least Batman didn't confiscate _your_ guns.

"It totally works for you," said Miss Martian adoringly. "-In that you can totally do good work in those clothes!" she said quickly when he looked at her, finishing with a semi-awkward thumbs-up.

Superboy looked away.

Portal looked down and smiled a bit to herself. Those two...they had no idea what was in store.

They all dropped down out of the Bio-Ship, Miss Martian with her flight, and Robin, Kid, and Portal relying on their harness lines. They landed without too much noise. This _was_ covert, after all.

At least, that's the point she would have made to Superboy since he disregarded their silent approach and landed with a large BOOM.

"Knew I didn't need a line," Superboy grinned.

As soon as the dirt cloud cleared, Robin scolded. "And yet causing a seismic event may not have helped us much with the covert."

"It's fine." Portal soothed. "As long as he doesn't wake the entire island."

"Aqualad, Drop "B" is go." Miss Martian reported.

"_Head for the factory. I'll track your GPS and rendezvous ASAP._"

"Roger that." Robin switched off his glove portscreen after pinpointing their locations, and they set off.

Thus began the trek through the jungle. Well, in Miss Martian's case, the _flight_.

Portal would have liked to teleport to the factory, but Aqualad had insisted that she stay with the others, especially since she was only able to teleport one person at a time during the night (a stupid rule of her powers that really sucked). Also, that she should stay with the others in case of danger.

This rule, however, did not seem to apply to him.

"Did you hear that?" Superboy stopped. They halted behind him. Well, in Robin's case, he was pulling his way up into a tree, hiding among the foliage.

"What are you doing?" A voice hissed next to his ear.

Robin gave a little start. "Oh, it's you." he said in relief. "Duh," said Portal, coming into view on the branch next to him.

"It's pretty hard to get past me." she smirked.

"Fairly smug about that, huh?"

"Takes one to know one."

"In your dreams, maybe."

"As if I would dream about something so trivial." she said mock-haughtily. "So why _are_ you up here?"

Silently, he showed her the holograph map. Covered by red dots. No, detected mines.

"Ok, Rob, now what?" Kid Flash's voice from down below.

She watched him turn around, evidently seeing nothing. "Man, I _hate_ it when he does that." he sighed in annoyance.

"Should we tell the others?" she looked back up at Robin.

"They'll be fine. Come on." he swung himself into another tree.

So, making a quick decision, she followed him.

It wasn't long before things went wrong. Namely, two squads of armed thugs opening fire on each other. That was only part of the problem. Kid Flash and Superboy breaking their cover and attacking said groups of armed thugs..._that_ was the other 80% of the complication.

She mentally face-palmed herself as she watched the scene unfold below:

Kid Flash scrambling away from the gunfire; Superboy exchanging blows with a huge man with a black and white face mask.

"Go!" Robin ordered. He dropped down from the tree. Not seeing much other choice, she followed (yet again), and jumped.

Robin scattered two of them, and punched a thug. "What is _wrong_ with you guys?" he yelled. He finished him off with a flying back kick. "Remember covert? Why didn't you follow my lead, vanish into the jungle?!"

Portal tripped up the other one with a low spinning sweep, before knocking him flat with the heel of her boot.

"That's what you were doing?" Kid Flash retorted, back flip-kicking another goon. "Way to fill us in. We're not mind readers, you know!"

He was about to go on until he saw Miss Martian use her telekinetic powers to throw a couple hoods into a tree. "Er, _I'm_ not, anyway."

"You told me I could only read bad guys' minds," she defended herself.

"Cool, so did you?" Portal stood and walked over to the others. Miss Martian flushed a bit at the question. "No! Um, well...not anything personal."

"At least Portal here followed my lead," Robin retorted.

"Yeah, because I thought your words were 'they'll be fine.', which seemed to be reassurance that they, in fact, _would_ be completely fine with you ditching and going off on your own!" she countered.

Robin scowled at her words, likely rolling his eyes behind the mask. Portal resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at him.

Aqualad made an appearance, and took out the last thug, who had been trying to get away. He dragged him over to them, and soon the people from the two firing squads had all been secured to the trees.

"These are Cult of Kobra uniforms," Portal thought aloud. She noticed the others staring at her and panickedly amended, "Um...I recognize them. Yeah. These are definitely Kobra."

"I am certain Batman would have mentioned it if he knew a dangerous extremist was running Santa Prisca's Venom operation." Aqualad reasoned.

"Agreed." Robin nodded. "And since there's clearly no love lost between the cultists and those goons, I'm betting Kobra came in and tossed them out. That's why normal supply lines have been cut off."

"We get it." Kid Flash waved a hand carelessly. "Kobra wanted super solved.

Radio Bats, and we'll be home in time-" "These cultists aren't on Venom." Portal interjected.

"Kobra's hoarding the stuff." Robin muttered. "We don't leave. Not until I know why."

"Until _you_ know why?" Kid said incredulously. "This team needs a leader." Robin said, as though it was perfectly obvious.

"Here we go," Portal mumbled, and took a couple steps back. Being a newcomer, she was definitely not going to get too involved with this argument.

"And it's _you_? Dude, you're a 13-year-old _kid_ who ducked out on us without a word."

Robin laughed, scorn in his voice. "And _you're_ a mature 15? You blew our cover first chance you got!"

"Don't you want to lead?" Miss Martian questioned Superboy. He shook his head firmly. "You?"

"After the Mister Twister fiasco?" she said discouragingly.

"You did all right." he smiled. She blushed, making Portal inwardly clap her hands. Then immediately forcing her to inwardly groan at the sudden rush of girliness. Wouldn't be happening again.

"I wouldn't want to lead either," Portal muttered out loud. I'm already bad enough at working with others as it is, she thought. I can barely even hold my own personal mission together.

Kid Flash and Robin continued to argue. Portal glanced at Aqualad and gestured at the two boys, like _you want to break it up?_

He sighed, and was moving forwards to do so, when Bane began laughing.

"Such clever _niños_. But you only know half the story." They moved closer as he continued. "Let me show you the rest-get you into the factory via my secret entrance."

"There _is_ a secret entrance," Miss Martian confirmed. "But he's also hiding something."

Her eyes glowed luminous green.

"Ah, ah, ah, _chica_." the man scolded playfully. "Bane is not that easy."

She groaned in frustration, her eyes turning back to normal. "He's mentally reciting football scores _en_ _Español_." she turned to look back at the others. "This could take a while."

"It's not complicated. The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

"Maybe take him up on his word?" Portal suggested.

They glanced at her.

She uncrossed her arms and reasoned, "Look, if he says he can take us into the factory, great. Secret entrance? Even better! And if he's lying, we'll have already been taking a close lookout, so that we'll be ready in case there's an ambush. Which there will likely be, considering that this guy sounds fairly evil." She gestured at Bane. "Plus, we'll be careful."

The others looked at each other. Aqualad gave a small nod.

Soon they were standing on the edge of a cliff.

"A buy _is _going down." Robin had his binoculars out, the rest of them clustered around him. "But if Kobra's not selling to the usual suspects, then-"

"We need to identify that buyer."

"Just what I was thinking."

"Yeah, _you're_ the thinker."

"Sarcasm? Dude. A real leader would focus on getting answers." Kid shook his head at him.

Bane shoved a boulder blocking what looked like a mine entrance aside, before gesturing. "Answers are this way."

Kid Flash put his hands on his hips with disdain. "_So_! Now _El Luchador_ is our leader."

Robin smacked him before walking on in.

Portal couldn't help laughing at the exchange.

It was extremely reminiscent of a mine, with pale lanterns propped on the tunnel walls, and wooden beams supporting the ceiling.

Portal shivered, walking behind the others at the back. She was fairly claustrophobic, and this was not helping. In fact, it was bringing up bad memories. Like the last time she had been inside a mine…

She dropped to her knees, clutching at her throat. She began to cough.

"What's wrong?" Miss Martian turned around, and knelt beside her, concern in her eyes. "Are you OK?"

"What is the matter?" Aqualad stopped the others.

Bane looked impatient. "Get the _chica_ to her feet already." he snapped. "We are losing time."

"She's in pain!" Miss Martian shot back.

"I-I-" Portal wheezed, trying to regain her breath. But it was so hard, it felt like there were nails scratching at her chest. The others stared down at her and waited.

Eventually, the coughing finally ceased, and she gasped out "I'm...fine."

"Asthma?" Robin guessed aloud.

"Not...exactly." she brushed off Miss Martian's hand. "Thank you...I'm...fine."

"Do you want to stay here for a moment?" Aqualad looked concerned.

"No!" Portal winced at the loudness, and tried again more calmly "No...I'm fine, really. I hate to waste...time like this."

"As you wish," he complied. They walked on, Portal grateful for the reassuring touch of Miss Martian's hand on her back.

Stupid weakness, she griped. She _hated_ to be such a burden. If _he_ had seen her, _he_ would've been so irritated, he would have-

She shook her head.

No. _He_ wasn't here now, and if she could help it, he would never be.

Bane opened a steel door at the end of the tunnel, and they entered the factory.

Robin peered out. "All clear!" he announced, before running off.

"We are _not_ doing this again," she groaned. She turned to Aqualad. "I'm going to scout ahead as well. See y'all later." Without waiting for consent, the red whirlpool appeared. In a flash, she was gone.

Robin threw a smoke batarang through the bars, effectively rendering the hood who was in the room unconscious. He strode in, picking up the man by the collar and dropping him to the floor before sitting down at the computer himself.

"What are you doing _now_?" This time, the voice from behind didn't faze him.

"Hey, Portal."

"Hey." she replied, mimicking his casual greeting.

"In answer to your question, I am about to hack in," he plugged in his USB cable before proceeding with said hacking.

"Formulas. Very interesting."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"Wow."

"What'cha got?"

"Hey, Kid." Portal waved. She eyed the chocolate bar in his hand. "Is that caramel?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Tell you later."

"..._Dude_! That's _mine_!"

"Chemical formulas," Robin answered without taking his eyes off the screen, ignoring the scuffle behind him. "I'm guessing it involves Venom, but-"

Kid Flash and Portal moved closer to the screen, Portal hastily wiping the chocolate off her face.

She wasn't too surprised that she actually recognized the chemical diagrams.

"This one's Venom, and that one's-whoa. The blockbuster formula from Cadmus! Mixed correctly, Kobra's new juice is three times more powerful than Venom. And permanent." Kid muttered incredulously. "But how did Kobra get access to project blockbuster?"

"Our mystery buyer must also be Kobra's supplier!" Robin realized. "Using the cult to create a blockbuster Venom super formula!" he put his hand to his ear. "Robin to Aqualad! We got...static."

Portal straightened. She heard gunfire. The sound of a window smashing. She looked down out of the screen and saw Aqualad and Superboy engaged in combat with a...something. A very large, humanoid something.

Where was Miss Martian? And Bane?

She turned to the boys. "I do believe that's our cue," she thrust out a hand, conjuring up another red cesspool.

As soon as they were outside on the ground, Kid ran off, leaving her and Robin there alone. "We've got to stop that transfer."

"Let's go outside," he suggested, and one teleport later, they were back under the night sky.

"_Everyone online?_" Miss Martian's voice.

"_Yeah,_" Superboy sounded reluctant.

She looked around, Robin already having run off. There was a helicopter not too far ahead. It must be the buyer's.

In no time at all, she was sitting in the pilot's seat, knocking out the guard with a swift kick.

"OK, but how to dismantle you?" she wondered out loud.

No gateways. Something this big would have to be taken out some other way.

No explosives. The buyer would abandon the vehicle too quickly.

They needed to buy some time to catch this guy.

"Um, wires, wires..." she rummaged around, wriggling her way under the control panel.

"_There_ you are, you gorgeous things!"

"_You know it, beautiful_," she heard Kid Flash say over the mental link.

"_Good. We need to regroup._" she heard Aqualad say.

Time to go.

"_Bit busy right now_," she heard Robin reply to Aqualad.

One stroke, and her boot pen-knife cut through most, if not all of the brightly colored mess of engine wires.

Excellent.

"_I'm all done here!_" she thought over the link.

She hoisted herself back up, cursing when she hit her head on the low ceiling after standing up too fast, and jumped out of the side door. She hit the ground running as fast as she could.

"_We need to retreat._" she heard Aqualad continue. "_Kid, clear a path._"

She and Robin rejoined with the others in the factory. Superboy was still busy with the..._thing_, so in the spur of the moment, Portal reached down and threw her hidden machete as hard as she could at its head, forcing it to recoil.

It roared in rage, and Superboy took the opportunity to throw it at the oncoming attackers.

They ran behind the tunnel door just as it closed.

It didn't hold for long.

The beast that had been fighting Superboy smashed down the door, and the attackers followed the team in pursuit.

Portal, being at the back, turned, and threw her explosives at them.

BOOM.

"Superboy, the support beams!"

He knocked them down, wood and dirt falling from the ceiling, blocking off their passageway from the rest of their followers.

For the moment, they were safe.

Aqualad pulled out a glow stick and broke it, lighting up the gloom of the dark tunnel.

"How could my first mission as leader go so wrong?" Robin let out a frustrated sigh.

"Wait, _you_ were actually leader?" Portal asked incredulously. "Who would've thought?"

He glared at her. She smiled sheepishly back, realizing her mistake. "Oops."

"You do have the most experience," Aqualad turned to him. "But perhaps that is exactly what has left you unprepared."

"Penny in the air," Portal whispered to herself.

"Fighting alongside Batman, your roles are defined. You two do not need to talk. But this team is new. And a leader must be clear, explicit. He cannot vanish and expect others to play parts in an unknown plan."

"Oh, so _I'm_ supposed to hold everyone's hands!" Robin shouted back, whirling around angrily.

"...Dude," Portal murmured, in an effort to calm him down.

He sighed. "Who am I kidding? You should lead us, Kaldur. You're the only one who can.

"Please! I can run circles-"

"Wally, come on. You know he's the one. We all do."

"And the penny drops," Portal smiled.

"_Hello_, Megan!" Miss Martian lit up. "It's so obvious!"

"Could have told ya." Superboy added.

They looked to Kid Flash. Portal poked him. "Say 'yes' already!"

"OK!"

Aqualad walked over and placed his hand on Robin's shoulder. "Then I accept the burden, until you are ready to lift it from my shoulders. You were born to lead this team...maybe not _now_, but soon."

Robin nodded, smiling.

"All right." Aqualad addressed the rest of them. "Our first priority is preventing that shipment from leaving this island."

"Um, about that…" Portal started. "I sort of sabotaged the helicopter already. Hope that's OK."

There was a moment of silence before Robin said, "You already took it out? Portal, that's _way _more than OK!"

She grinned.

"Sportsmaster's the supplier/buyer." said Robin as they ran. "But it still doesn't track. He doesn't have the juice to acquire the blockbuster formula or to get Kobra to do his dirty work."

"And neither of them have the chops to bond blockbuster with Venom. That took some major nerdage."

"I believe the expression is…" Aqualad came to a sudden stop. "..._'tip of the iceberg'_."

Bane appeared in front of them, dropping a vial on the ground. "_Halt_, niños. I'm feeling..._explosive_."

_Beep beep beep._

They looked up.

_Yippee_, she thought to herself. _Bombs, how I've missed you so._

"_Kid, you'll need a running start_." Aqualad thought.

Portal pretended to pay attention to what Bane was monologuing now.

Seriously. Why did villains monologue?

"...forced you into a situation where you would either take down my enemies or die trying.

If the latter, the Justice League would certainly have come to avenge their sidekicks."

"_I_ am_ not_ a sidekick, actually."

"And when the smoke cleared, Santa Prisca would be mine once more." Bane continued, ignoring her. "Blowing the tunnel with you inside should have the same effect."

"With _what_?" Kid smirked from behind him, holding up the device. "This trigger thingy?"

Bane roared, about to smash into him, when he was stopped in his tracks.

Miss Martian's telekinesis was responsible for that.

"Finally." Superboy smiled in anticipation, standing right underneath the floating man.

"_Drop him_."

The last thing Bane probably saw was his hurtling fist, and then a world of pain.

"The helicopter is operational, O Exalted One." One of the Kobra followers bowed his head.

Sportsmaster, a menacing man wearing a gray hockey mask, began to make his way over to the helicopter with the case tucked under his arm.

That was when a wild Kid Flash started taking out all the thugs in the area, sending them flying.

Superboy and Aqualad distracted the beast. Meanwhile, Portal and Miss Martian were setting up the explosive inside the helicopter.

"Put it here," Portal instructed quietly, pointing to a panel of wall which would likely be hard for Sportsmaster to notice. Miss Martian, in camo mode (which was seriously freakin' awesome by the way), complied.

All was going well, until Sportsmaster threw Portal clear out of the helicopter and yanked Miss Martian back by the hood. He continued to blast at Superboy with his gun while holding Miss Martian-now out of camouflage mode-in a tight headlock.

"_Hey_!" Portal shouted, rolling back onto her feet. "What type of stupid name is 'Sportsmaster' anyway? What are you going to do, _play tennis_?!"

Sportsmaster paused in the firing for a brief second, giving her an opening. She lunged, aiming a flying kick-

_POW._

Yeah, it didn't end so well. The good news? Portal managed to somehow knock the gun from his left hand. The bad news? She was instantly smashed to the ground with his now-free arm.

She went down.

Sportsmaster flung Miss Martian away, straight into Superboy, sending both of them flying backwards. They landed hard, giving the villain time to fly away. For a moment, it had looked like he had won.

Well, until Miss Martian gave Superboy a smile, and pressed down on the explosive's trigger.

_BOOM._

The helicopter went spiralling down, covered in smoke and flame, crashing into the factory.

They regrouped in time for Robin to get out from Kobra's foot and stand with the rest of them. The beast had been electrocuted. Sportsmaster was gone. Kobra's cult followers had been dealt with. He saw no way out between the six heroes facing him.

"Another time, then." he melted away into the darkness of the forest.

What followed was a brief realization by Robin that Aqualad would get busted by Batman since he was leader now.

This thought gave him much joy. Portal groaned, hoping that her ribcage didn't actually suffer as much damage as it felt like.

Oh, well. It wasn't like she wasn't used to it already.

MOUNT JUSTICE

July 23, 10:01 EDT

Oh, man. If she thought Batman wasn't going to kick her out now, well maybe he was going to.

_Crap._ And to tell the truth, she had actually been looking forwards to seeing the Bat-Cave.

For now, they were standing in a line, back in casual clothes (which she didn't actually have until she was lent some by Black Canary). This consisted of a plain black T-shirt and jeans.

They were being strictly lectured by Batman, while he paced up and down the line.

"A simple recon mission, _observe_ and _report_. You'll each receive a written evaluation detailing your _many_ mistakes."

_Crap. They were all doomed._

"Until then, good job."

They looked up at him in shock.

"No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. How you adjust to the unforeseen is what determines success. And how you choose who leads determines character."

Aqualad and Robin smiled at each other, each with a mutual agreement.

Portal couldn't help smiling to herself. Maybe joining this Team wasn't going to be as bad as she thought.


	9. Chapter 7: The Bat-Cave & The Snob-Talk

"You weren't kidding when you said you were acting as my guardian," Portal shook her head, impressed. They were standing outside Wayne Manor; her, Bruce, and Dick.

They had arrived later that morning, straight from the Zeta-Tubes.

The elegant stone mansion was just as comforting and yet as eerie as she thought it would be, with its towers, white-inlaid windows, and fine red brick.

Also-

"It looks so..._new_," She murmured to herself.

"What was that?" Dick tilted his head towards her inquisitively.

"Nothing!" she shook her head, waving a hand. "Nothing, just...thinking."

"Huh." Dick turned away, but she couldn't allow herself to feel relieved yet. Who knew what was going on in that boy's head?

Seriously, Bruce?

With her staying here of all places, she was likely bound more than ever to be found out. And that would ruin everything, and all she had worked and bled for.

No, the bleeding was not exaggerated. Had she mentioned that knives actually really _hurt_?

Bruce put a hand on her shoulder, making her jump.

"Welcome to Wayne Manor," he said quietly, but warmly. "I hope you'll enjoy your stay here."

_Stay_. The word sounded almost ironic, as though she was merely there on vacation, not for the urgent assignment she still had yet to carry out.

"You know, it's unfair." Dick spoke up again, jolting her out of her musing. He was looking openly at her now. "Somehow you've been allowed in on _our_ true identities, and yet..._look_-!"

He pointed dramatically at her face.

"You haven't even taken off your mask yet!"

Bruce raised an eyebrow at this, and she inwardly groaned.

"Is that important?" she feigned innocence.

"_Yes_." Dick frowned. "You're going to be living with us, but we still barely know a thing about you!"

"Fine," Portal sighed. "I'll take off the mask when we get inside."

"Good."

"And here are some _fun facts_-" she quotated 'fun facts' with her fingers. "-about me that will hopefully satisfy your curiosity for more than one dangerous Team mission."

They walked inside, Lee being briefly introduced to Alfred, with a courteous head-bow, and a friendly wave from her.

"First of all," she continued. "I just turned 14 years old, as I believe I may have already told you earlier."

"Birthday?"

Man, this guy was a real snoop.

"October 11th. And I have a recently-discovered twin sister named Annie from England-"

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. OK, fine. My birthday's June 21st, about two days ago."

"Cool. Happy late birthday."

"Thanks." she couldn't help smiling, at least a little.

"Favorite color?"

"_Dude_," she said in exasperation. "Really?"

"Just answer the question," he said defensively.

"Gold. And you?"

"Red."

"Nice."

"Siblings?"

"None."

Then he asked _the_ question, the one she had no idea how to answer.

"Sorry, I know this may be a sensitive topic, but...parents?"

She gulped, and stopped walking. He halted beside her, looking guilty.

"Sorry! You...really don't have to answer if you don't want to." he sighed. "I know firsthand that it can be a difficult question."

"...It's fine," the words came out a bit choked up, and she cleared her throat. "I...never really knew them. I was on my own for a while until someone took me in."

With a glance at Bruce's back, she didn't dare say anything else in front of him.

"-But they're gone now. So I'm back on my own again."

She had been expecting Dick to maybe just nod and walk on, but instead he took her hand in his, an action that made her tense for a second, then relax. They began to walk once more.

"I'm sorry," he said.

She shook her head. "It's fine. Like I said, I never really knew them."

He didn't say anything in reply to that this time, just gave her hand a squeeze; as if trying to comfort her in his own way.

And to be honest, it worked.

Bruce activated the clock with one hand.

The entrance came into view as the hidden door slid smoothly aside.

Lee whistled. "Sweet."

When they walked in, Lee tried to appear as fascinated as possible, in order to throw Dick off a little. It wouldn't do for him to ask her too many more questions about her past.

"Welcome to the Bat-Cave."

"Whoa," she breathed. It turns out she really didn't have to pretend to be impressed. The feeling came naturally.

The famed HQ of the Batman was enormous, like she had figured, but it was also filled to the brim with giant screens, relics, spare uniform cases, and much more.

A winding staircase led its way down through almost five different levels, and an elevator was also available as well.

"Whoa. Just whoa," she mumbled. "Now, that is something worth seeing in the world."

"So do we have to make her a systems ID for the zeta-tube mainframe here too?" Dick questioned Bruce.

"Already done," Bruce assured him.

As if on cue, a computerized voice chimed in "Recognized. Batman, 02. Robin, B01. Portal, B07." It scanned them over with a pale blue light after announcing each of them.

"That's _awesome_." She shook her head, pleased at the recognition of her name.

"That is just..._cool_."

"And here I thought you were impressed with Miss Martian's telepathy," Dick smirked, leaning against a countertop.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Duh. I'm impressed with practically _everything._" she said sarcastically. "Get it straight, Grayson."

She spun on her heel and marched off mock-huffily, wanting to go explore the rest of the Bat-Cave.

He winked at her retreating back. "Always." he murmured, too quiet for her to hear.

"So, school." She put her hands on her hips. "Please tell me it's not where I think it is."

"I have a feeling you will be displeased either way," Bruce answered, without turning.

She sighed. "I'd have a feeling you'd say something like that. Just tell me?"

"Gotham Academy."

"And there it is." She groaned.

Bruce turned this time, raising a stern eyebrow.

She held up a hand. "OK, OK. I get it, sorry. I'll back off on the complaints."

The eyebrow went down.

"OK, but on one request."

"Yes?"

"This little school snob-talk is going to be done on my terms. Deal?"

"...As long as you don't refer to the actual interview as a snob-talk while actually talking with your future principal."

"Sweet. I'll be off, then!"

He handed her the folder of papers without much of a second glance, and she strode off back up the stairs and into the manor.

"Wait!" Dick (who had somehow missed this entire exchange) yelled up at her. "Where are you going?"

"Where do you think?" she shot him a breezy grin. "I'm going to school!"

"Hello, sir."

Such a strong opening, she thought proudly.

"Hello, what's your name?" The principal crossed his fingers, and stared at her in what was likely meant to be an imposing manner.

The office they were sitting in she had to admit was nice, the desk and furniture all fancy wood and engravings, matched with hand painted walls.

"Leanne." She said impressively.

"Your full name, please."

Crap.

So much for thinking of a last name earlier. The principal continued to stare at her with a cold unfriendly glint in his eyes, which was not exactly encouraging.

So, pressured, she said the first surname that popped into her panicking mind.

"Leanne...Grayson."

"Grayson?"

"Yeah-uh, yes sir."

"As in Richard Grayson, a student already attending this very same academy? Do you two have a relation of some kind?"

Crap again. Seriously, what was she thinking?!

"We're, like...cousins." she shrugged, probably unconvincingly.

"Hmm." He stared some more, peering at her from behind spectacles.

An extremely long moment passed by.

Just as she thought she was going to have to windmill kick this guy in the head and jump out the window to escape, he cleared his throat. "Well, Miss Grayson, your papers appear to be in order, and while it is irregular to have a transfer student admitted so soon before first term begins, I'm certain it will be alright."

"Thank you, sir." she said gratefully, and a lot more than a little relieved at this response.

"The first semester begins approximately three weeks from now. Do be prudent, Miss Grayson. I trust you will work hard."

It wasn't a question, not really.

"Yes, sir. I will."

"Very well. You may go."

"Thank you very much, sir."

And Portal took her leave, already hiding a smile at the predicted look on Dick's face when he found out she had 'borrowed' his surname.


	10. Chapter 8: Amazo

"So you actually took off your mask?" Dick feigned amazement.

"What's it look like?" Lee demanded. "You got a problem with that?"

Clearly, she was fairly sensitive about taking it off.

"No, no, it's just...just you look good without it."

"Oh." She went quiet after that, like she wasn't used to receiving compliments.

Dick grinned, and added that observation to his list of mental clues.

He would figure this girl out. That was for sure.

And it wouldn't be long. The longer she stayed with this team, and at the Manor, the easier it would be for him to crack this case.

Lee was getting worked up. It seemed as though the paranoia she had been feeling earlier had returned with a vengeance. It was a bad feeling, not one she had known until those past few days staying at the Wayne Manor.

Every time Dick spoke to her, she was afraid that she was going to spill something that he would use to solve her mystery.

All she would have to do was to keep her responses as casually lighthearted as possible, and pray for the best.

"Leanne." Bruce spoke from the end of the table.

"_Lee_," she corrected.

"Lee." he amended. "Are you enjoying your stay here?"

She thought this over.

"Yes." she answered. "It's great. I still can't believe that I was actually allowed to stay in a place like this."

It wasn't all a lie, that statement.

"That makes two of us," Dick muttered, only audible to the both of them.

She scowled in his direction.

After dinner was finished, she went straight upstairs to her room.

There was something she had been longing to do for a while now.

She turned, facing the mirror. In her right hand, she held a pair of sharp silver scissors.

_Snip. Snip. Snip. Snip. Snip._

* * *

MOUNT JUSTICE

August 3, 13:06 EDT

"_Recognized. Robin: B-01. Portal: B-07._"

The familiar computer announced their entrance.

M'gann flew over, excited to see her friends. "Hi, Robin! Hi, Port-your _hair_!"

Portal chuckled nervously, tugging self-consciously on a lock of said-hair. "Yeah, Robin was a little surprised too."

Robin shrugged at this statement, and walked off.

"It's just so...so...I _like_ it!" M'gann spun in the air with enthusiasm. "It really suits you!"

"It does?" Portal repeated, turning to see a reflection of herself in a nearby mirror.

She had cut it herself, with a few helpful tips from Alfred.

It was much shorter now, but _so_ much easier to manage than before. Her hair came down to rest about a couple inches below her chin. A little layered, a little choppy.

Perfect.

It was almost..._rebellious_-looking, and she couldn't help liking it.

No way on Earth (or on Mars, or Krypton, for that matter) was she ever going to grow it out as long as it had been before again.

She stared at her reflection, feeling a growing sense of pride.

If _he_ could see her now-

_Get a grip, Portal. Don't be so pitifully wistful. It's like you _want_ to go back there._

_(Shut up.)_

_You get one little haircut and it's supposed to change who you are?_

_(Shut up!)_

_How _pathetic_._

"Ready for training, everyone?"

She looked up to see Black Canary striding across the floor towards them.

Beside her was Martian Manhunter, whom M'gann immediately flew over to.

"Black Canary! Uncle J'onn!"

"M'gann." Martian Manhunter greeted her. "I was in the neighborhood, so I thought I'd see how you were adjusting."

"A few bumps, but I'm learning." M'gann shrugged, with a smile.

He nodded approvingly. "That's all I can ask."

"I consider it an honor to be your teacher." Black Canary addressed the group. "Now, combat is about controlling conflict. Putting the battle on your terms. You should always be acting, never reacting." She looked around.

"I'll need a sparring partner."

"Right here." Wally stepped forwards eagerly. "Yeah! After this-_swish_-" He threw his banana peel into the garbage can.

"-I'll show you _my_ moves."

Portal rolled her eyes. Why was she surprised Wally that hit on everything in his sight?

The so-called 'match' was over in a matter of seconds when Canary swept out a leg, tripping Wally up, leaving him flat on the ground.

"Hurts so good," he groaned.

"Good block." Canary praised. "But did anyone see what he did wrong?"

"Ooh, ooh!" Robin raised his hand in mock-enthusiasm. "He hit on teacher and got served?"

"_Dude_!" Wally looked scandalized.

"He picked a match he couldn't hope to win?" Portal muttered under her breath.

Wally scowled at her.

"He allowed me to dictate the terms of-"

"Oh, please." Superboy cut her off. "With my powers, the battle's always on my terms.

I'm a living weapon, and this is a waste of my time."

"Right," said Portal. "As if living weapons never needed practice."

"Prove it." Black Canary challenged him, smiling.

Superboy accepted, stepping onto the sparring simulator platform.

In only a few moments later, he was flat on the floor, just like Wally had been not that long ago.

Robin laughed out loud.

"It's like déjà-vu!" Portal scratched her head in mock-amazement, turning to Aqualad. "Are we stuck in a time loop or something?"

Aqualad sent them both a warning look, nudging Robin as a signal to cease his laughter.

"I'm _done_." Superboy snapped, stalking off in anger.

"Training is mandatory." Canary countered.

"Superboy-" Portal stepped forwards.

"_Batman to the Cave_."

Clearly, the training issue was going to have to wait for now.

* * *

"Five hours ago, a new menace attacked Green Arrow and Black Canary.

The attacker was capable of studying, then duplicating The powers and abilities of its opponents. Arrow called in reinforcements, which nearly proved disastrous, as our foe gained more and more power with each new combatant."

"Whoa," Portal murmured, looking at the video clip.

The huge almost human-like creature was tossing around Justice Leaguers like it was no big deal.

"One guy...with the powers of the entire League?"

"In the end, it took 8 Leaguers to dismantle the android." Batman said grimly.

"An android? Who made it, T.O. Morrow?" Robin asked.

"Red Tornado doesn't think so. The technology bears the signature of professor Ivo."

"Ivo? But Ivo's dead."

"So we all thought," Said Black Canary. "Or hoped."

Batman finished up with the briefing. "We're sending two trucks carrying the android's parts to two separate S.T.A.R. lab facilities in Boston And New York for immediate evaluation. Every precaution is being taken. We'll have 4 additional decoy trucks to create confusion in case Ivo or anyone tries to recover the remains. You will split into undercover teams to safeguard the two real trucks."

"Couldn't we just zeta-tube the materials from here?" Portal thought aloud, ignoring the stares of the others around her.

"Actually...can't you just teleport the trucks through using your powers?" Robin asked her.

She shook her head.

"I wish. To be honest, my powers are a bit harder to control with all these different materials. You would have to drop them off one case at a time."

"And time is not as much of a luxury we have at the moment." Batman interjected, and that was that.

"So now we take out your trash." Connor said moodily.

Batman fixed him with a steely look. "You had something better to do?"

"Coordinates received. On our way."

The team headed out, for all except Superboy, who was pulled back by Black Canary.

"When you're ready, I'll be here."

* * *

"S.T.A.R. Boston is go."

"S.T.A.R. Manhattan is go."

The Justice League was there to oversee the departure of the trucks.

Portal noticed Superboy glance furtively at Superman standing a little distance away in a conversation with Batman, and look away quickly.

She felt a small touch of sympathy for him.

Not being able to talk to someone who should have been more than just another senior hero must be difficult.

Well, she would know, she guessed.

* * *

"...If dislike is the opposite of like, is disaster the opposite of aster? See, instead of things going wrong, they go right!"

Robin seemed way too excited about this newest revelation of his.

It was Robin, Superboy, and Portal who were watching the truck for the Manhattan delivery.

Miss Martian, Kid Flash, and Aqualad would be looking out for the Boston transport.

They were riding side by side on motorcycles, which to be honest, Portal was pretty bad at.

She was so used to just teleporting away wherever that actually using transportation vehicles of any kind threw her off.

But they had to supervise the truck's journey. There was just no way around that. It was their mission, after all.

Portal, in direct contrast to Robin's enthusiasm about his newfound word, groaned. "Really?"

Robin just raised an eyebrow. "Just because you don't seem to appreciate the fineness of my creative vocabulary does not mean Superboy will."

"...Your English teacher really dislikes you, don't they?"

He elected to ignore this, instead focusing on Superboy. The clone looked even more moody than usual underneath his helmet. "What's wrong?"

"Canary." he answered darkly. "What business does she have teaching combat skills to a guy with super strength?"

Portal shrugged. "Well, for starters, a little more humility could come in handy."

Robin shot her a warning glance. "What Portal is _trying_ to say is that taking down stronger guys is part of the gig. Canary learned that the hard way. Same with Batman and, well, me."

Portal nodded along in agreement, but Superboy still appeared to be troubled, and sped up far ahead of them.

She and Robin exchanged glances and they both shrugged at one another.

Just then, what appeared to be green and black...monkeys(?!) flew out of the cornfields surrounding them on either side of the road, launching themselves onto the truck directly in front of them.

"_Robin! Superboy! Portal! Our truck is under attack_!" Portal heard Aqualad's urgent tone from their communicators.

"Kinda figured!" Robin replied.

The robot monkeys let out a kind of sinister laughter that made her insides crawl. It was both super-annoying and kind of creepy at the same time.

Superboy scowled even more grimly than before.

"I _hate_ monkeys."

The truck swerved dangerously on the road, thanks to the robotic monkeys, no doubt.

She herself didn't really have anything against the species in general, unlike Superboy, but there was something definitely off-putting and frankly menacing about those monkeys. They were almost...eerie.

"...Totally Ivo's tweaked style!" Robin laughed aloud, as if reading her thoughts.

He pressed his motorcycle screen and activated battle-mode.

"Hey, hey! Switch your ride to battle mode," he encouraged Superboy with undisguised enthusiasm.

He ignored him, and leapt off the bike, jumping on top of the truck to join the monkeys.

Portal looked at her screen-how was she supposed to work that thing again? Just press?

Or did she have to do something else first?

Man, why did she have to be totally clueless when it came to this kind of technology?

She shrugged. _Eh, whatever. _She lifted her right hand and conjured a small gateway beside her. As soon as it was fully formed, she jumped off the bike and through it.

In a red flash, she was on top of the truck along with Superboy, who was dealing with a whole armful and faceful of monkeys.

She soon found herself knocking them away as well. They flew straight at her face, like they wanted to cling on.

Two of them stuck to her right arm, and she snatched a knife from her belt and stabbed one through the head, then smashed the other away with her left fist.

Another clung to her leg. She backflipped quickly and managed to shake it off, but two then three more took its place, until she was struggling with two weighed-down legs.

She swung her hand down in an arc and created a portal underneath her feet, shooting herself straight downwards and disappearing.

She reappeared in the air, kicking the monkeys away and slicing two or three of them with her knife.

When she regained her footing on the top of the truck, she saw Superboy getting carried away by about four or five monkeys, covering his eyes. They raised him far in the air and dropped him to land hard on the concrete far behind the still-moving truck.

Robin still clung to the back of the truck, and the monkeys started to shoot beams from their eyes like lasers, cutting open a hole in the truck roof.

She attempted to side-sweep them away with a swift kick, but three of them seized her by the leg mid-kick and carried her into the air before she could get rid of them.

She saw that the guards in the truck had opened fire on the robots, but to no avail.

Robin appeared on the top of the roof and began engaging the remaining robots, wielding a pair of escrima sticks.

She, meanwhile, swung herself upside down in mid-air, sliced off one of the three monkey's hands, then the other. She opened another gate and fell through it. She re-appeared back on the roof, crushing the other two monkeys underneath her boots.

More monkeys surged behind them, but all of a sudden, Superboy re-appeared, throwing away the rest of the robots with a yell.

Their truck began to skid even more dangerously-the tires had been shot.

"Get OUT!" Robin yelled at the driver through the window. The door opened, and Robin seized the driver as they jumped out. Portal jumped with them, using another gateway for all three of them to make sure they had a safer landing among the cornfield.

The truck had a less happy ending. With a nasty screech, it capsized and rolled over at least five times before stopping farther down the road. The back exploded, and monkey robots surged out of it, carrying a large box-their cargo with the Amazo parts.

Superboy growled in rage and took a huge leap into the sky and away, in pursuit of the monkeys.

"Superboy!" Robin shouted.

But he was already long gone, with a jump that made a large crater in the middle of the cornfield and continuing to follow the robots into the distance.

"_Aqualad to Robin. We've lost our cargo. Did you_-"

"Our cargo's gone too," Portal replied quickly. "And so is our partner." Robin said, frustrated.

It seemed like Superboy had ditched his comm as well shortly after taking off.

"_Super_!" She could hear Wally's cutting sarcasm from the communicator. "_Now we can't even track _him."

Even Miss Martian's telepathy couldn't reach the Kryptonian at this point.

She could almost physically sense the rest of the Team's frustration as Aqualad turned down the suggestion of asking for Red Tornado's help.

But she had to agree with him. Being trusted with just the second mission only to come back begging for help to find their own teammate and a suspected crazy scientist did seem just a tad too humiliating.

Robin bent over one of the fallen monkey-bots, and inserted a cable from his wrist into a port in its back.

"What are you doing?" Portal stood beside him. "Hacking in?"

"We'd have heard by now if the decoy trucks had been attacked." he answered. "So how did these monkeys know exactly which trucks to target?"

He typed away on the miniature screen on his forearm.

"Ha! The parts have GPS. The monkeys can track the signal, which means-"

"You can track them using this bot!" Portal finished excitedly. "Sweet!"

"It looks both sets of parts are converging on...Gotham City."

And just like that, his expression changed to a frown. "Well, what were the odds of that?..." She muttered, her question trailing off.

The rest of the teammates didn't seem to question the coincidence of this location or the connection to them, Aqualad promising to send Kid Flash to them as he and Miss Martian would catch up as soon as they could.

Portal would have offered to teleport them there, but her powers worked best mainly short-range. That far distance between them and the rest of the team was just too much. Even so, she let the suggestion out to them.

Aqualad paused before replying, "_Do not worry about it, Portal. Aqualad out_."

"Well, that's nice," she said lamely, and sighed. "Well, I guess it's home sweet city now."

"Definitely a disaster." Robin said, thinking aloud. "Heavy on the '_dis_'."

Portal sighed again, agreeing. "You said it, Boy Wonder."

"Don't call me that, please."

"Definitely a wonder. Heavy on the '_won_'."

"Drop it."

And she did.

* * *

Robin's motorcycle roared on down the road, Portal close behind on her own salvaged one from back at the scene of the accident.

Soon they passed the sign which read "Gotham City Limits".

"Hey, we're almost home!" she shouted up ahead.

"Stay focused!" Robin yelled back. "We have to get there first."

"Yeah, yeah." she muttered under her breath. "I remember."

A gold and red blur passed her from behind.

"Hey, Kid!" she greeted. "Glad you could join us!"

"Glad I could make it!" he called back over his shoulder, running to catch up with Robin.

She sped up as well, cruising alongside the both of them.

"...I feel naked in 'civvies'." Kid was proclaiming. "You still tracking the parts?"

"They were heading through Gotham, but they veered." he replied, looking down at the screen on his motorcycle. "Wait." he paused before exclaiming: "Dude. They're at my_ school_!"

* * *

They wasted no time in arriving at their destination. Kid and Robin ran ahead, and Portal vanished into a red cesspool.

Superboy was in the gym, fighting the huge android they had seen on the video earlier.

The good news? Superboy wasn't dead. The bad news? He was losing. Badly.

Just before Amazo could crush him like a bug into the floor, Kid Flash rushed in and swept him out of the way just as the android smashed its fists down, creating two large, deep craters.

Robin threw a birdarang at Amazo, but the android, imitating Martian Manhunter, merely let its head become intangible and the weapon flew harmlessly through his head and exploded.

Portal copied the movement, reaching into her belt for one of the new 'rangs Batman had given her earlier that week-("In place of your _firearms_.") and threw the crescent shaped weapon at the android's chest. "_Access: Martian Manhunter_." It repeated in a monotone, and the weapon sailed harmlessly right through it.

"_Access: Red Tornado._" Amazo rose in the air with a familiar red whirlwind surrounding it, and rushed towards them. The force of the small tornado blasting them off their feet in different directions. Superboy and Robin hit the bleachers hard, Kid Flash the wall opposite, and Portal skidded violently along the floor, scraping her knees and arms.

She groaned, picking herself up only to see Kid Flash get blown backwards by the force of the legendary 'Canary Cry'.

Superboy ran in again, aiming punches at the android, but was thrown off again to land in the bleachers. Robin threw more birdarangs, and threw himself out of the way of the extended almost-whip-like arm that came lashing down in his direction.

Portal opened another gateway and re-opened it above Amazo's head, leaping on and clinging on for dear life as she wrapped her legs around its thick throat and tried to jam an explosive onto its head. The android did not take kindly to this attack, and she was immediately thrown off with a powerful swing of its head.

"_Whoaaa_-!" she shrieked as she flew back and smacked into the base of the bleachers.

"Ughh…" she groaned slowly, the wind knocked out of her. She hoped she hadn't broken that already-bruised rib from their last mission, although her chances of that weren't great.

"_Access: Martian Manhunter._" Her bomb fell neatly into Amazo's palm and it crushed it in its fist.

Kid ran at the android again, but this time Amazo was ready. It seized him in its powerful arms and squeezed him tightly. "_Access: Superman_."

Kid Flash yelled out in great pain.

Portal rolled over onto her stomach weakly, trying to get back on her feet to help him, but-

_Whoosh._

As if a miracle, a dark arrow flew from the shadows and straight towards the android. Distracted, Amazo dropped Kid Flash and activated Martian Manhunter's intangibility in order to avoid it.

Kid ran as soon as he got to to his feet, and Superboy charged in again for another full-frontal assault, but was repelled yet again when Amazo used Black Canary's very same throw and sent him crashing back into the bleachers.

Amazo shot laser beams at Robin, but Kid Flash tackled him out of the way. Portal got to her feet at last, flinging another batarang at the android, although she knew by now that this action was pretty much futile.

She launched herself out of the way as it sent more laser beams at her, landing hard on her left shoulder as she rolled. It erupted into brief but sudden pain.

"Access: Black Canary." she heard Superboy repeat faintly.

"Oh, _yawn_. Normally, Amazo would study and mimic your abilities during battle, but what's the point? You're all such _poor_ copies of the originals." The small man reclining among the bleachers, who must have been Ivo, drawled.

Superboy grinned briefly, then scowled. "So everyone keeps saying. It makes me ANGRY!" With a roar, he catapulted himself towards Ivo, who let out a squawk of distress and ran out of the way.

"WANT TO SEE ME CHANNEL THAT ANGER?"

Portal went over to where Robin and Kid Flash knelt.

"So do we need to sedate him, or what?"

"He's gone ballistic again!" Kid exclaimed.

"...Maybe not." Robin reasoned.

Ivo scrambled to avoid Superboy's attacks, quickly ordering Amazo to protect him.

With a flash of clarity, Portal realised what he was trying to do. With Amazo's new orders, instead of attacking the four of them, he was forced to only protect his master, or "_Priority Alpha_".

Robin ran over and kicked Ivo across the room. "Anyone wanna play keep-away?" he yelled.

"Ooh, me, me!" Kid ran in to grab Ivo, but was blasted upwards as the floor underneath him gave way.

"I'll take it!" Portal yelled, and in a red flash she and Ivo disappeared and re-appeared on the other side of the gym.

Robin threw one more birdarang at Amazo's head. "_Martian Manhunter_."

And in that precise moment, Superboy's fist sunk deep into its skull just as it transitioned back to being solid again.

The android's head blew clean off, leaving nothing but a charred hole in its neck behind, and toppled over with a CLANG.

"Help me disassemble him!" Robin sprinted to its side.

"Dude…" Kid sounded skeptical at his tone of urgency. "The guy has no head."

"He actually looks better this way too," Portal mused.

"Don't take any chances." They looked up to see Aqualad and Miss Martian arrive.

She flew to Superboy immediately, asking if he was alright. "I'm fine," Portal heard him reassure her. "Feeling the aster." Robin grinned at him, while Portal rolled her eyes but cracked a smile.

"Hey!" Kid spoke up suddenly. "Where's Ivo?"

* * *

As per usual, Batman debriefed them back in the cave, reassuring them that the Amazo droid was being safely analyzed at separate labs, and that capturing Ivo would become a League priority.

"Complications come with the job." Batman concluded. "Your ability to handle them has impressed the League."

"The..._whole_ League?" Superboy sounded wistful, and Portal couldn't blame him.

Batman turned to him. "Given time, yes. Kryptonians, as you know, have very hard heads."

Portal grinned at the joke.

"Of course, there's no shame in asking for help. That's why the League exists- because there are some problems even we can't handle individually."

"_Please._" Robin interrupted. She opened her mouth to tell him to shut up, but he continued, "If we needed help, we'd never get the chance to ask." He pulled out the same arrow which had saved Kid Flash's life earlier. "Look _familiar_? You were following us! _Babysitting_! You _still_ don't trust us!"

Batman denied this claim, as Green Arrow compared the arrow to one of his own. The arrowheads were different, the mystery one less jagged and more rounded than the other.

"And that's...not your arrow." Robin realised. Portal rolled her eyes.

"Speedy!" Kid Flash claimed.

"He has our backs." Even Aqualad looked pleased at the mention of his friend.

"Souvenir!" Kid grabbed the arrow quickly in glee.

As they turned to walk out of the room, she glanced back over her shoulder.

"I'm ready." Superboy said quietly to Black Canary.

"Good." she answered gently. "Because I'm here."

With a little smile, Portal turned back and walked with the rest of her teammates out of the mission room.

She could use a break.


End file.
